Ch.6969. Black Monkeys

I wonder how much I should expand and cultivate the farm this time.

After clearing the main quest, I can add 10P more, so I’ll be able to use the cabin more spaciously. Maybe I’ll even install solar panels and make a living room?

I came with all these happy thoughts, but what I see before me is a ruined field.

The garden in front of the house has grown large enough to be properly called a field now.

That’s because I’ve acquired gobring slaves and Kim Soo-jung has been diligently expanding the field whenever she had time.

I was thinking that once things settled down a bit, I should divide our home into zones and put up fences, but…

“Huh. What is this?”

“Master… I’m so sorry…”

Lulu apologized with a sullen voice.

Lulu and the gobrings were gathered in front of the cabin.

“What happened? Why are there only ten of you? And why are you coming from the orchard?”

Something must have happened.

Not that it’s particularly strange.

This is just how things are in the Rift Dimension, how farms work.

It’s a familiar situation I’ve experienced tens of thousands of times in Farming World.

The difference now is that back then, I’d wake up to find this mess and get furious, but now it happened while I was away for almost a week, so… I guess I can let it slide as something I couldn’t help?

That doesn’t mean I’m not angry, though.

The gobrings are my first slaves.

I can have up to 15 slaves, but not knowing that, I killed 2 more, leaving me with just 13, which was already a painful loss of manpower. And now 3 more died while I was away.

I was already disappointed with running the farm with just 10 gobrings, so I’d been circling through the Forest of Corruption, partly to update my map, hoping to find gobring offspring or other gobrings.

What bastard did this?

Lulu explained the situation in response to my anger.

“Black Monkeys did it.”

“Ah. Those black bastards.”

Right, I forgot.

I had been thinking I should take care of the Black Monkeys when I had time while gathering Pure Mushrooms.

With a sub-quest popping up, I’d planned to deal with them, but I was busy farming the Forest of Corruption. These bastards must have been watching, not attacking until I logged out, and then pulled this stunt while I was gone.

Well, Lulu said it happened five days after I left, so they probably weren’t specifically targeting me.

“What about the mushrooms?”

“They said they hid the harvested ones well.”

“Good job.”

Sigh…

My head is burning hot.

As a 10-year Farming World veteran, the one thing I absolutely cannot forgive is someone messing with my field.

Cultivating fields takes time and effort.

In this Farming World, fields take up most of your time, so you put your heart and soul into cultivating them.

This is a field I have to look at every day, for months, for years.

Unless you’re completely overhauling the entire farm, you never touch a field once it’s established.

Though this field isn’t perfectly established yet and I’ll need to overhaul it soon anyway, still, whether it was the Big Rats before or now, when your front yard is in such a mess, farming game players develop a kind of separation anxiety or anger management issues—your hands shake and you can’t focus on anything else until you clean it all up.

“Those damn monkeys are dead.”

I unloaded all my stuff in the second-floor storage, and dumped whatever didn’t fit there on the first floor.

Looking at this mess, cleaning the house or organizing my belongings isn’t the issue.

The Black Monkeys have been coming around the cabin every day since they appeared, looking around and then leaving, according to Lulu.

If the gobrings had encountered them, it would have been a disaster, which is why she told them not to leave the orchard area.

This won’t do.

I need to restore the field, and is it right for slaves to be hiding like this?

“You all, start restoring the field.”

I’m throwing out bait.

Since the Black Monkeys haven’t come today yet, they’ll come running when they see the gobrings working outside.

That will be my chance.

“Keruruk. Black Monkey. Very strong. Keruk.”

“I’m stronger. You bastards. Want to die by my hand?”

“Keruruk. Trust master.”

The gobrings looked at me nervously, then started plowing the damaged field from the outside in.

Nothing happened for about two hours.

Around lunchtime.

I was giving meat to the gobrings and eating the meal Kim Soo-jung had prepared when I heard commotion outside.

“They’re here.”

I put one more spoonful of rice in my mouth and rushed out.

Ten monkeys, slightly larger than me or about my size, were surrounding the gobrings in a wide circle.

“You not pay. Mushroom. Tribute. Kikik…”

“Keruruk…”

“Mushroom. Where? Kik.”

“Keruk…”

“No tell, you die. Kiki…”

Their movements were somewhat gorilla-like.

I launched a preemptive attack against the Black Monkeys who were distracted by the gobrings.

[Double Slash] and [Leaping Slash]

According to Lulu, Black Monkeys are A- rank monsters.

They’re from a level 2 biome and can’t be found in level 0 biomes.

So I didn’t let my guard down.

I aimed precisely for vital points, slashing and watching for follow-up attacks.

“Kiki-!”

“Kaek!”

“Ki? What ki…?”

Even A- rank Black Monkeys couldn’t avoid my attack with the Sewer Sword and Glass Stone Ring.

“Wow, they don’t die in one hit?”

But as monsters of A- rank, they didn’t die from my attack in one hit.

Even though I slashed its neck precisely, it was still struggling, clutching at the blood gushing out.

Of course, it’s as good as dead, just not quite there yet.

Its neck was severed more than 70%, dangling in a way that made onlookers grimace at the grotesqueness.

It will die if left alone.

What surprised me was that it didn’t get severed in one go despite my full effort.

“They’re tough.”

If they’re A- rank, depending on their main stat, their health must be around A- to A.

This gives me a rough idea of how much health a Corrupted Ogre might have.

“This won’t be easy.”

Even then, it’s only because I upgraded my equipment setup.

Otherwise, I might not have been able to kill the monkeys in one hit.

“Kiki… Human…”

I didn’t even listen to what the remaining monkeys were saying.

In my eyes, the Black Monkeys looked like money.

“Give me your A- rank hides.”

“Kiki… Crazy human…”

Once again, I let two of them escape.

Though it’s a bit repetitive and tedious, there’s no reason to choose another method when this one is so easy and reliable.

“I’ll be back.”

I follow the Black Monkeys with my sword drawn.

A level 2 biome right next to a level 0 biome.

Will I be okay? I wondered briefly, but I was confident.

With my current stats, most monsters in a level 2 biome would be B-rank at most, so I don’t need to fear them yet.

Plus, the leather armor set I’m wearing protects me well.

[Gray Wolf Leather Top]

– Grade: B+

– A top made from well-preserved and processed hide of a Corrupted Gray Wolf. Extremely tough with strong regenerative properties, quickly repairing itself when torn.

– So light and soft that it’s barely noticeable when worn.

– Defense +27

– Damage reduced by 15% when armor is hit

– Wolf Family Slaughterer (5/5): You’ve made armor from the hides of the same gray wolf pack and wear it as a trophy. Gray wolf abilities are activated. Agility +1 grade

[Gray Wolf Leather Pants]

– Grade: B+

– Pants made from well-preserved and processed hide of a Corrupted Gray Wolf. Extremely tough with strong regenerative properties, quickly repairing itself when torn.

– So light and soft that it’s barely noticeable when worn.

– Defense +14

– Damage reduced by 12% when armor is hit

– Wolf Family Slaughterer

The defense is lower than A+ grade, of course, and the damage reduction effect is less.

And it doesn’t have the “Chaotic Energy” effect that added +1 grade to agility, nor the basic +1 grade to agility.

I could clearly see that A+ grade armor requires many more luck factors.

But I was satisfied.

Even though I didn’t get armor with Chaotic Energy, I made five pieces of armor—top, pants, gloves, neck protector, and socks—from the same grade of leather with 100% durability, which gave me a set effect.

This set effect is so rare that there’s a separate “set grade” in option grades.

Some people value the advantages highly, while others consider it a disadvantage since you need to wear the complete set for the options to apply, but at least for me now, it’s a satisfactory additional option.

Agility +1 grade.

Some might say, “Just +1 grade for wearing all five pieces? Disappointing?” But there’s no limit to the grade.

In other words, with these five items equipped, my current agility has risen to S+.

That’s why my [Leaping Slash] attack count increased from 5 to 8 based on agility.

A whole 3 attacks per grade.

That’s why the Black Monkeys fell so easily.

“Hehehe.”

With high defense and damage absorption effects, the risk of losing health to blind attacks is also reduced.

This is an opportunity to illuminate part of the level 2 biome on my map, which I’ve been expanding in the level 0 biome’s darkness.

“I’m so curious what these monkeys eat to survive.”

How much did Pure Mushrooms sell for this time?

I should plant more Pure Mushroom trees too.